School in Bearsden

[RASHU]

Hi.. any idea about Castle hill school and St Nicholas school in Bearsden ? Dont know how to decide on schools in Scotland ... here we would go pretty much based on ofsted, but I understand not quite the same in Glasgow...moving there next month from England.

Both lovely schools. St Nicholas is of course the Roman Catholic school so I suppose it depends on what type of schooling you want your child to have?
The secondary for st Nicolas is not in bearsden and I don't believe you'd be guaranteed a place at bearsden academy if your child goes to st Nicolas - just something to keep in mind

Castlehill is a very good nursery and primary. The building is a bit worse for wear, but the staff are very hard working and generally lovely. We’ve been very happy with it so far.

It’s also got a support base for kids with developmental difficulties. Excellent resource.

Thank you both for your replies

We moved from elsewhere to castlehill and it's very good. Growing every year as a consequence but still small, with a generally good level of teaching. Recent inspections glowing. Excellent pastoral care and lots of green space and sports facilities. I dont have any issue with the building. I hear v good things about St Nicks too, if you're after a faith school. It's much bigger!

These schools are both local to me

St Nicholas is a Roman Catholic school - is your child a baptised Catholic? I'm not sure what capacity is like there at the moment, it's a very new building after the old St Andrews was merged with St Joseph's in Milngavie a couple of years ago. If it's full and your child isn't a baptised / practising Catholic I think that pushes you down the list. Most children from St Nicholas move on to Bearsden Academy and it's literally next door.

Castlehill is older, and smaller. Well respected speech and language unit for children with special needs. Know parents who have sent their children there and have been very happy. There was a plan a few years ago to merge Castlehill with Bearsden Primary and build a new school on the Castlehill site but the Bearsden parents kicked up such a massive fuss that plans were shelved.

The other two local primaries are Mosshead and Baljaffray, both are also great and feed into Bearsden Academy. or Bearsden Primary but placing requests there have been tricky in recent years and the location (busy junction, no green space at all) is far from ideal.

Oh and in terms of how it "works", you'll be allocated a space depending on a fixed catchment area.

Use this link to find your catchment school, it will give you both denominational (Catholic) and non-denominational schools. The Council will find you a place in your catchment school, in 99% of cases. If your catchment non-denomination school is, for example, Bearsden Primary but you'd prefer Castlehill, you have to complete Placing Request paperwork.

www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-learning/school-catchments/school-placing-requests

Just say which school you'd prefer. But there are no guarantees, if a school is full they won't take your child if you're out of catchment.

Thank you both, very useful information indeed. My child is not catholic . So I guess st Nicholas is out of my list now . Not looking for special needs school either - does that mean I shouldn’t consider castle hill?
Knightswood primary is another one I looked up - not sure how good that one is though.
The link you posted is for placing request isn’t it ? Any link for checking catchment schools directly ?

Knightswood Primary isn’t in bearsden, it’s a different local authority as its part of Greater Glasgow. The primary is good but the high school it feeds too isn’t great. Whereabouts are you likely to be living as that will have an impact on what schools you should look at.

Castlehill has a speech and language attached. It is a mainstream school and Nursery. If you're in the area you'll get in.

Don't think you can go wrong with any of the Bearsden schools tbh, so I'd see where you end up living and go with that school.

You have to put your postcode into the EDC website and it gives you a school based on the postcode.

It's very different to the English system!

Castle hill isn't a special needs school, it's mainstream with a special needs unit.

I wouldn't recommend Knightswood primary and it's not in bearsden, it's in a different council area so if you're living in bearsden you'd need to do a placement request

www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-learning/primary-school-registration?fbclid=IwAR0u9h1f7kbbSOPLiGzamPzchYcDyGAviT_QZ8-8pQpOU7LJk6fUA758PeM

Another primary school that I know people at personally is Westerton primary and I've heard nothing but good reports.

OP if you PM me privately with where you are thinking of living I can tell you what your catchment school is. Definitely not Knightswood!

If you are living in Bearsden, north of Canniesburn Toll roundabout, and west of the Milngavie road which runs up past Asda, past Hillfoot station and onto Milngavie, you're in Bearsden Academy catchment.

Their associated Primary schools are: Castlehill, Baljaffray, Bearsden, Mosshead. Plus lots of kids from St Nicholas.

Other primaries in Bearsden - Colquhoun Park, Westerton, Killermont - feed into Boclair. Also a great school and they've just announced a new build.

What you need to understand is that your catchment applies for primary AND secondary. What has happened a lot in recent years is that parents have been able to get their child into a non-catchment school for primary as there is capacity. Then it comes to the end of P7, and they have to put in another placing request so their child can carry on with the rest of their friends. Every year it happens that kids don't get it, have to move to a different high school from all their friends.

Your starting point is knowing your catchment school.